Specific Learning Difficulty (SLD) in Reading Comprehension

By Inderbir Kaur Sandhu, Ph.D

Q:
I have just received a psychological on a student
identified as Specific Learning Difficulty (SLD) in reading comprehension only. His scores
are as follows: Verbal Comprehension (110), Perceptual
Reasoning (82) Working Memory (102) Processing Speed (85 )
Processing Speed (85) Full Scale IQ (94) All WJ-III scores
are within the average range - the lowest being 85 - which
was in Reading Fluency. I am concerned about the point
scatter between Verbal Comprehension and Perceptual
Reasoning. What is this indicative of? The last
psychological testing was done when this child was in first
grade. Decision was made at that time to identify him as SLD
because of a discrepancy between cognitive ability and
reading comprehension. This child is now in sixth grade.

A: Specific Learning Disability
(SLD) is generally defined as a disorder in one or more of
the basic psychological processes involved in understanding
or in using spoken or written language. This may manifest
itself in problems and ability to listen, think, speak,
read, write, spell, or do mathematical calculations. It
includes conditions such as perceptual disabilities, brain
injury, minimal brain dysfunction, dyslexia, and
developmental aphasia. However, it DOES NOT apply to
students who have learning difficulties that are primarily
the result of visual, hearing, or motor disabilities;
cognitive disability; emotional disturbance; environmental,
cultural, or economic disadvantage. Determination of SLD
requires an analysis of Cognitive and/or Language processing
assessment. Therefore, usually the WISC-IV (Verbal
comprehension, Perceptual reasoning, Working memory,
Processing speed) and the WJ-III - Cog (Verbal Ability,
Thinking Ability, Cognitive Efficiency, Phonemic Awareness,
Working Memory) are used.

There is a concern that SLD may not be solely a reading
achievement problem and that other achievement areas may be
deficient, especially math disabilities. Having said that, a
large proportion of students with SLD will manifest
difficulties in reading. In terms of IQ, a student
demonstrating a discrepancy between IQ and reading ability
may be different because s/he may be properly termed as an
“underachiever” and which indicates a primary feature of SLD.

If below average achievement level is indicated, the
discrepancy indicates the presence of underachievement and a
possible disability. However, even though the discrepancy
concept is valid across IQ ranges, SLD should be associated
only with significantly below average achievement levels.
So, I am not sure about the decision to place the child as
having SLD and can understand your concern. You may want to
bring up this matter to the school.

The Perceptual Reasoning score appears to be below the base
rate (according to the WISC-IV) which indicates evidence of
a cognitive processing weakness in the area of Perceptual
Reasoning. However, to be diagnosed as having SLD, the
verbal comprehension is expected to be low. In fact, there
have been debates and inconclusive research findings in
terms of the relationship between IQ and reading. Some
studies have rejected a measure like verbal intelligence
because of its overlapping variance with reading, whereas
others showed that one of the best predictors of reading
achievement was the Verbal Comprehension factor scores from
the WISC-III. Therefore, the best suggestion is to get the
school to review the student’s score report by looking into
specific areas of strengths and weaknesses to determine if
indeed the child has SLD. Best of luck.